I think my expectations/baggage about Italy are less about definite facts I've erroneously constructed in my personal vision of Italy and more about a series of anxious questions I keep re-mapping in my mind. Mostly, I'm gearing up to be okay with being completely and totally lost, which is not exactly my area of expertise. You know, being lost.
It's the little things I worry about. Are Italians the type of people to make eye contact, give a brief smile and a nod? Or should I keep my oddly intimate southern greetings to myself? How do I address people? I barely even know how to say hello, much less how to politely convey my meaning with points and grunts. I'm looking forward to this ten hours of Italian training.
And the food! I'm expecting the food to be magnificent, but I'm also expecting to screw that up big time, more than once. I don't have any idea what the Italian standard of table manners is like, but I'm interested in figuring that out.
I feel it'll be a lot easier to travel by foot and public transit, but I'm wondering how easy the latter will be navigating in a foreign country.
As for the people themselves--every country has its stereotypes, but I'm not really familiar with many stereotypes for Italians (besides silly ones about spaghetti), and I'd prefer to keep it that way for now. That way, I'll just learn while I'm there without having any rudely preconceived notions to dismantle.
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